Here's a copy of the text of the letter Robert Quinn wrote Commission Mc Dowell regarding P2P and 3G:
July 25, 2008
Robert M. McDowell
Commissioner
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th
Street, S.W., 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20554
Re: Ex Parte Statement - Broadband Industry Practices
WC Docket No. 07-52
Dear Commissioner McDowell:
At Monday's en banc hearing on Broadband and the
Digital Future, in response to a question you posed, I promised to provide
further information on AT&T's policies and practices with respect to the
use of peer-to-peer ("P2P") applications by AT&T's mobile wireless
broadband customers. This letter is intended to supplement my initial answer.
As I indicated on Monday, AT&T does not use network
management tools to block the use of P2P applications by its mobile wireless
broadband customers. However, AT&T's terms of service for mobile wireless
broadband customers prohibit all uses that may cause extreme network capacity
issues, and explicitly identify P2P file sharing applications as such a use.
Under these terms of service, which are similar to those of other wireless
providers, use of a P2P file sharing application would constitute a material
breach of contract for which the user's service could be terminated.(1) Since
the vast majority of our customers abide by their contractual commitments,
AT&T has not yet found it necessary to terminate anyone's service for such
a use.
As I noted in my written testimony, mobile wireless
broadband services rely on shared network resources at every point in the
network including shared spectrum in the "last mile." I further stated that, "[w]ith
any shared network, some limitations on the uses individual subscribers make of
their service are inherently necessary to ensure that all customers
collectively receive an acceptable level of service." AT&T's policy on the
use of P2P file sharing applications illustrates this principle. Today's P2P
file sharing applications are inappropriate for AT&T's mobile wireless
broadband network, which is optimized to efficiently support high data rates
for multiple users that send and receive intermittent or "bursty" traffic
generated by activities such as browsing the Internet and sending email.
Because P2P file sharing applications typically engage in continuous (rather
than bursty) transmissions at high data rates, a small number of users of P2P file
sharing applications served by a particular cell site could severely degrade
the service quality enjoyed by all customers served by that site. Moreover,
unlike wired broadband networks where the maximum number of potential
simultaneous users in a given neighborhood is known in advance, the maximum
number of potential mobile wireless broadband users that may simultaneously
seek to access a given cell site at any particular time - and thus the
collective service experience for all users at that site, for both data and
voice services - is far less predictable due to the inherently nomadic nature
of mobile wireless users. Accordingly, AT&T's terms of service prohibit the
use of P2P applications to safeguard service quality for the benefit of all
customers.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify on this
important subject. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have
additional questions.
Sincerely,
Robert W. Quinn, Jr.
Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory
CC: Chairman Kevin Martin
Commissioner Michael Copps
Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein
Commissioner Deborah Tate
Daniel Gonzalez
Amy Bender
Scott Deutchman
Scott Bergmann
Nicholas Alexander
Greg Orlando
Dana Shaffer
(1)See, e.g., Verizon Wireless Terms and Conditions,
NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess and GlobalAccess, (prohibiting "peer-to-peer
(P2P) file-sharing applications that are broadcast to multiple servers");
Sprint Terms and Conditions, Important Service/Product Specific Terms
(prohibiting "use in connection with server devices or host computer
applications [and] other systems that drive continuous heavy traffic or data
sessions"); AllTel Wireless Legal Notices (prohibiting "peer-to-peer
applications"). See also T-Mobile, Terms and Conditions (prohibiting conduct
that "interferes with our operations, network, reputation, or ability to
provide quality service"). NCTA recently represented to the Commission that
AT&T's mobile wireless terms of service prohibit the use of VoIP. See
Letter from Daniel Brenner, NCTA, to Marlene Dortch, FCC, WC Docket No. 07-52 (July 24, 2008). NCTA's claim is
erroneous. The text quoted by NCTA is substantially out of date, and neither
AT&T's terms of service nor the webpage cited by NCTA contain such a
prohibition.
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